Gangs. They are portrayed as mean thugs. Mean but cool. They are portrayed in many movies. Driving around and shooting people. While it may seem fun to be part of a gang, gangs can get you in a lot of trouble. If you join a gang, you will soon be involved in drugs, smoking, vandalizing, and theft. Get caught, and you could end up in juvenile hall. It is common for many gangs to have wars with each other which could cause teens to do very violent acts.
Gangs usually have many members and have increased over the years. During the 1990s, the number of gangs increased by six times from 4,881 in 1992 to 31,000 in 1996. The Office of Juvenile Justice conducted a poll to police departments asking about gang activity in their neighborhoods. 58 percent reported gang activity. Ever since, the numbers have fallen slightly. Gangs have also spread from urban areas to more suburban and rural areas. If you join a gang, peer pressure will cause you to do things that you would never do on your own. In gangs, you will be labeled as a coward for not doing things that the majority of the gang members are doing. “Once you belong to a gang long enough, it’s easy to lose your moral foundation and adopt the group’s standards.” says Dr. Kenneth Sladkin. A child and adolescent psychiatrist in the Fort Lauderdale area, he has worked with gang members over the years. Joining a gang will cause moral depression

Gangs will get you in a lot of trouble. If you join a gang, you can soon do things such as drug dealing, smoking, underage drinking, assault, theft and vandalism. All of these are serious crimes and can lead to serious consequences in the near and later future. Again, many of these behaviors are linked to the peer pressure that is experienced through the gang. Many people also join gangs because of failing grades and getting bullied at school. However, the solution is not joining a gang.
People join gangs for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, they don’t do well in school. They are frequently at the end of the social ladder. They think that joining gangs will help find friends. They also join gangs if they’re not getting enough attention at home or experiencing hard times at home such as parents divorcing or family relatives dying. These obstacles can lead the teenager in them to join gangs.

In conclusion, we see many of the effects of joining a gang. They are bad. We saw why teens join gangs. Teens will join gangs mainly due to negative things happening in their lives. They also join gangs because their friends pressure them to. This peer pressure will later lead them to things that they would never do on their own; such as criminal stuff. While gangs may seem like cool groups, they will get you in lots of unexpected trouble.